a toronto food blog
Olive & Gourmando is always busy. It’s going to get even busier now that it’s been listed in Maclean’s controversial 50 best restaurants in Canada. We went there last summer for breakfast and found ourselves back again for the pastries after needing an escape from the heat. Iced coffee, a lemonade (or was it sweet iced tea?), an oddly shaped almond croissant, and the perfect chocolate chip cookie (thin, crisp, moist and slightly chewy).
Pictures from last year’s visit are here.
Don’t you wish you could spend every Monday morning eating freshly baked bread with a warm spread of butter and delicately layered chocolate cakes? San Francisco’s Tartine Bakery and Miette are on my list of places to go to if ever get to chance to visit San Francisco. The city has been my favourite ever since I watched The Princess Diaries and saw those cute trolleys/streetcars and steep hills. Leo has family there…so…there’s hope one day I will get to go!? *hint*
Miette: A Video from San Francisco’s Most Charming Pastry Shop from 4SP Films on Vimeo.
Tartine Bread from 4SP Films on Vimeo.
There was a period in my life when I would eat a pop tart every single day for breakfast, and then another one after school. I especially loved them toasted with the icing sugar all burnt and crunchy and the inside all steaming hot … Then at some point I decided that these were not at all healthy and stopped having them. (But really…it was because I got braces and had to stop eating sweet things!) For some reason or another, I’ve been really craving pop tarts again. And so, with a fridge full of weeks-old nectarines waiting to be eaten, fresh blueberries and recently picked strawberries, it seemed like a good time to try out a recipe.
I’ve yet to master handling pastry dough, so my pop tarts came out looking very homey and *rustic*. They aren’t pretty, but I think they have some charm and a bit of character going for them. They’re also incredibly, incredibly flaky and buttery. They just fall apart as you bite into them….pastry heaven right there. Considering the amount of butter that goes into them, they are definitely much richer than your standard Kellogg’s boxed pop tarts.
Berry Nectarine Pop Tarts
Adapted from Camille Beccerra via La Buena Vida
*makes six
Pop Tart Dough Recipe
2 cups flour
1 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp sugar
250 g (1 cup) butter chilled & cubed, or shortening
¼ cup iced water
1 egg OR a bowl of water (for binding the assembled pastry)
Pop Tart Filling
However much you want of nectarines, blueberries and strawberries …or any other fruits
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tbsp cinnamon
Salt for tasting
2 tbsp flour
Preparation
Combine flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Using your hands or a food processor, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until there are only little lumps of butter left throughout. Slowly add in the cold water until the dough comes together. (Keep in mind that you might not need to use all the water.) Wrap the dough and refrigerate for a min. of half an hour.
While the dough is resting in the fridge, you can start on the filling.
Sauté the fruits in a pan in some butter. Add in sugar and the cinnamon and cook for a minute or two. As the fruits are cooking and start to let out water and juices, throw in flour to thicken it up. Set aside and let cool.
Assembling (The tricky part for me!)
Beat your egg in a bowl to create an egg wash OR just have a bowl of water ready for assembling.
Portion out the dough into six equal pieces and keep them in the fridge until ready to use. Roll out each portion into a rectangle and cut in half. Spoon in your filling in the middle of the dough and wet the edges with an egg wash or water. Place the other half of your dough on top and crimp with a fork or your hands. (If you’re a perfectionist, you might trim the edges to make a perfect rectangle and then crimp it…whatever.)
Once that is all done, make three slits on top – brush with an egg wash if you want – and bake in a 400 degree preheated oven for about 10 to 20 mins or until golden.
Central Park was gorgeous. New York was exciting. You know.
I’m not a fan of buying sandwiches (or salads for that matter), but one of my absolute favourites to get whenever the feeling strikes is a nice, fatty, mayo filled tuna sandwich with some crunchy cucumbers for texture. While it was missing that ‘crunch’, Bouchon Bakery’s Tuna Nicoise definitely hits that tuna-sandwich-craving spot. According to their website, it’s made with creme fraiche, garlic mayonnaise and olive tapenade. It was really, really good. I’m going to drizzle olive oil in my tuna sandwiches now…
